Despite blasting 51 shots over two games this weekend, the men's soccer team only found the back of the net twice in two games, losing to South Carolina 3-0 Sunday, but squeaking out a 2-1, double-overtime win against George Washington Friday at Koskinen stadium.
The Blue Devils were dealt an early blow in the first four minutes of play in their second game, when Duke defender Matt White found himself in a world of pain after a nasty tackle from behind.
With his ankle swollen, White was replaced by senior Andy Borman, and head coach John Rennie said that having White out of the lineup was difficult for the Blue Devils.
"We've had Matt and Ryan Kerlew out-which is half our starting defense on the bench," he said.
Although Rennie pinpointed the Blue Devils' problem, he could not find a group of defenders with enough speed to run down Gamecock J.C. Desriac. The French-born Desriac used his lightning-quickness to lead to two counterattacking goals, which were both crossed from the right corner.
Freshman Anthony Stovall connected with his foot on the first ball from Desriac with 15 minutes left in the first half. Just two minutes later Jordan Quinn dove to meet Desriac's cross in the air and hit side netting with his second goal of the year.
"We had a bad matchup with speed, and they took advantage of that," Rennie said. "With another new player coming in the game they caught us in transition a couple times."
On the offensive end, the Blue Devils pressured several times-including a few notable opportunities by Donald McIntosh in the box-but in the end it only lead to four saves for Gamecocks goalie Michael Bachmeyer.
"Goals are something that are eluding us at the moment," freshman midfielder Blake Camp said. "You kind of get into a rhythm when you score goals and I don't think we've found that rhythm. It's something that we're still working on."
Goals were also a major problem Friday night when Duke battled the Colonials. The Blue Devils dominated play for the majority of the game, but only scored two goals in 40 attempts.
Defender Matt Ahumada sent a rocket through the box with eleven seconds left in double overtime to score a golden goal and propel the Blue Devils to victory.
"I was just trying to send a ball in and see if it got deflected," Ahumada said. "We created really good opportunities, and we just couldn't put them away before that."
Duke's first goal came after Jordan Cila was taken down in the box and was rewarded a penalty shot which he put in the lower left corner. After the Blue Devils took a 1-0 lead, George Washington responded with a rebound goal by Arnar Johannson-who has scored five of the Colonials' seven goals this season.
"We're really good at keeping possession," Camp said. "Once we get into that final attacking third, we can't finish. We're trying to execute once we get there."
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